Car unloader



Apr. 3, 1923;

E. O. TALIAFERRO CAR UNLOADER Filed Dec. 13, 1919 7 sheets-sheet l m MNA NN 7 Q Q 0 N H r. mm R M x 4 a a o a o o w o N 2 wk m m ma 0 W W zWITNESSES Apr. 3, 1923.

E. o. TALIAFERRO CAR UNLOADER Filed Dec. 15, 1919 7 sheets-sheet 2- //vl/E/V TOR Z fly arm, B at/(4 WI M QN A TTORNEYS Ednwd 0 7k I? itir. v .111 o O a ll \.vlr 0 0 f... u o o o v o 0 v 1 l.

Apr. 3, 1923.

r s sl ii iia Filed Dec. 15, 1919 E. O TALIAFERRO CAR UNLOADER '7sheets-shee 5 INVENTOR dmrd 0. 722 fia r/g ATTORNEYS Apr, 3, 1923.1,450,313

E. O. TALIAFERRO CAR UNLOADER Filed Dec. 13, 1919 7. sheets-sheet 4WITNESSES IN|/ ENTOR Z'd wa rd 0. Tel 1. ojerrg A TTORNEYS MMMzt Apr. 3

' E. O. TALIAFERRO CAR UNLOADER Filed Dec. 15, l9l9 '7 sheets-sheet 5 EdWA 9d 0. flihgeaao,

A rrolmys E. o. TALlAFE RRO CAR UNLOADER Filed Dec. 13, 1919- 7sheets-sheet 6 l/V I/E/V TOR 5d, wa rd 0, 73;. 1 2 2% A TTORNEYS Apr. 3,1923.

E. O. TALIAFERRO CAR UNLOADER v7 sheets-sheet 7 Filed Dec. 15, 1919YHHHHIIIIHII EIlllllllllllllllllHllHll 4%W llll f flwt Ill;illllllllllllillllllllllllllllllliIllllll WITNESSES A TTOR/VEYS PatentedApr. 3, 1923. i

EDWARD OVERALL TALmrnnno, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR UNLOADER.

. Application filed December 13, 1919. Serial No. 344,570;

T all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, EDWARD O. TALIe FERRO, acitizen of the United States, and a,

resident QfPhiladeIphia, in the county: of Philadelphia" and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and usefnl Improvements in CarUnloaders, of which the following is a specification. 1 My inventionrelates to improvements n car unloaders,. and it consists in the constructions, combinations and arrangement herein described and claimed.

The foremost object of my invention is to provide an improved unloaderfor remov ing such materials as coal, sand, gravel,

crushed stone, slag and thelike, from railroad cars or other vehicles,and to either a discharge the unloaded materialat a fixed point, or atvarious points along the length of the vehicle which is being unloaded.

A further object of the inventiton is to provide a car' unloader,including gantree, on which the unloading mechanism isoperatively'mounted, which is capable of being either fixed in relationto a car, which is made to move beneath the ga-ntree, or movable withrespect to the car which in that case is fixed. 7

A further object of the inventionv is to provide unloading mechanism forcars, which operates slowly down the length or the car, and removingsuch material, in a swath of a width equal to that of the standard car.I v j A further object of the. invention is to provide a car unloader,which includes a material elevator with adjusting means for fixing it atvarious. positions in respect to the car. I,

Other-objects and-advantages will appear in the following specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is aside elevation, showing the improved unloader in operative relationto acar which is bei'ng unloaded,

Figure 2 is a detail side elevation of the unloader, 3 I Figure 3 is aplan view o f theunloader, Figure 4 is. a front elevation, the car whichis being funloaded being shown in section,

F igure, 5

is a detail perspective view of the elevator mechanism; showing thefixedelevator guides and the elevator frame mov able therein,

Figure. 6 is' a detailcross section taken I substantially on the line 66 of lfigureo, I

Figure 7 is a detail perspectiveviewof the fixed elevator drive gear andits movable shaft, I I i Figure 8 is a detail section of the sta- 3 oveyordrivepinion and its slicL able shaft, and w Figure 9 isa, detailview of hem-ha;

ing drumv clutch mechanism.

In carrying out my invention I provide a gantree G which is either fixed'or movable i with respect to the car (lg-which-is tobe unloaded, thegantree carryingdrive mechanism M by means of which. the conveyor A andelevator E are I simultaneously operated. .The elevator E worksintomaterial to be unloaded, discharging that material;

on the lateral conveyor A bywhich in turn the materialis dumped intoasuitable receptacle, and the elevator being substantially equal in widthto the width of-the car'C, I

practically'removesall of the materialas the unloading operationprogresses.)

E ther the car. or gantree are made to move, one in respect to theother, and in the former case, which is preferable, cables 1,2

are attached at 3 to the car C and runcover.

drums 4', 5 on the gantree G. .These drums are operated either fast-orslow and cause the car C to move beneath. the gantree, or inother-words, the material to be unloaded is continuously moved upagainst the elevae tor E which promptly disposes thereof.

This gives a general idea of thejinven tion, but in order that theconstruction may gantree, which consists of a frame. 6 of suit- .100 7,with wheels 8 which run on rails; 9 disable sizev and design, is mountedon'trucks posed a suitabledistanceoutside 01E the ordinary railroadtrack rails 10. By this a-rrangement, either the gantreeunay be made tomove over the car C, or the car C made to move beneath the gantree,depending on be more clearly understood,- the following the manner inwhich it is desired to have the material discharged.

In the present instance, it is desired to have thezcar Gmove in respectto the gantree,- and to further this purpose, the wheels 8 are suitablyblocked at 11, so that the gantree cannot ;move. Diago-nally-oppositeones of the gantree wheels 8, that is to say,

those wheels diagonally farthest from each other, are provided withbevel gears 12, (as can be seen in Fig.3 for example) with which pinions13 on drive shafts 14c, engage.

These sha'fts are' su'itably supported in hearings-I5, and at theopposite ends carry pinions 16 which are driven bybevel gears I'Fformingpart ofthemechanism M. FiXe d in any suitable manner to the gantree G,are the guides 18 of ,theelevator E. These guides are -'tlisposed at aslight inclination, and while firmly mounted on the gantree, are alsoadditionally braced by means of the guys 19, which reach 7 from theuppermost caps 20 to various parts of the frame. It

is' 'w'e'llto now consider the construction of the elevator E. is canbereadily seen, the guides 18 consist of parallel members on which "the'u shaped channels 21 of the elevator carriageQQ -ride. "This carriagemay 5 beofjanysuitable shape and design, the only the car Cforeffectively unloading the car.

The weight'of'the load on the upper side of the belt 24 is supported bysupporting rolls 25,;which are journalled at '26 on the frame. The belt24 runs over top and bottom rolls'27, whichare journalled in bearings2Son other parts of themovable frame. This-whole structure moves as one,a cable 29 supporting'the movable elevator at all times.

' This cable runs over a pulley 30 and winds around the elevator drum-31- which is a part of the mechanism M. The other end of the cable :29is divided-at 32, the respective portions running over guide pulleys 33on the cap 20, then down over'the hoisting pulleys 34, suitably carriedby the frame 22, back over guide pulleys35 on eachcap "20, being finallysecured at 36 to the respecas may be desired. In beginning theoperation, the elevator frame is slowly lowered so that the buckets23'ca-n dig their wayinto the material, close to-the bottom of the car.It is not until such position is reached that the mechanism is made tooperate so as to pull the car C forwardly.

But when the mechanism is thus operated to pull the car C forwardly, itfollows that the material is slowly advanced toward the moving conveyor"bucket .23,- and since the elevator E is of substantially the samewidth as the car .0 a practically complete removal of the r -material--results.

The elevator is driven by a shaft 37 with a'tbevel gear 38 fixed at thetop and a bevel gear 39 relatively stationarily mounted in a bracket 40on the .elevator guide frame.

The lowermost gear 39 includes a hub 41, to the bottom of which a plate42 is-secured, forthe purpose of-holding the gear in place on thebracket 40.

This gear has asp'line 43 which occupies the groovert, extending thefull length of the elevator shaft 37, for the purpose of permittin theshaft 37-to slide through the hub of the gear 39 but still maintain thedriving connection offered by'the spline 43 in the 'groove lt. Theupper-gear 38 is in fixedrelationship to the gear45, on one-end of theupper roll shaft, a bra'cket tG providing the-support for the gear 38 aswell as the journal for the upper end of the elevator shaft '37.

Meshing with the gear 39 is the bevel pinion 47 ona "counters'haft 48,on the other end of which there is asprocket 49 with a chain 50 leadingto thesprocket 51 on a sec- 0nd countershaft 52 on-the gantree frameplatform. This second countershaft 52 has a spur pini0n'53 which mesheswith agear 54, the various connections just described being the meanswhereby the elevator--E is=operated. It can be easily understoodthat theelevator itself can be adjusted up and down to suit'various conditions.the driving connections always being maintained by virtue of the-splineand groove connections 43, 44 already described.

The transverse conveyor A is the next in the order of consideration. Thematerial elevated from the car C by the buckets 23 on the belt 24, isdumped onto the conveyor A, by means of whichthematerial is transportedto one side of'the gantree G and dumped into a waiting receptacle. Thisoperation follows when the gantree G is stationary and the car C ismoved in respect thereto. But in case the car C is madestationaryand thegantree G is moved in respect to the car,

belt being supportedrby'a'plurality ofrollers 1 57. All 'of' the rollers-mentioned are 1Sllltably journalled in bearings 58 on the conveyorframe 59. A sprocket chain 60, running over the sprocket 61, on theshaft 62, of the outermost roller 56, drives the conveyor A from thesprocket 63 on a countershaft 64, which is journalled in bearings 65.

A bevel pinion 66 on the extremity of the shaft 64, meshes with a bevelgear 67 on the main counter drive shaft 68 of the mechanism M. This gearis fixed on'the shaft 68 so that the conveyor A moves continuously withthe elevator E. That is to say,.they both move together so as to disposeof the material, but in case it be desired to stop them both, a clutch69 on the shaft 68 is made use of. This clutch is best described inconnection with the actuating mechanism M which is under control of anoperator who may stand on the platform 7 0 on top of the gantree G. Itis to be observed that the clutch 69 is to be moved into engagement witha corresponding clutch element 71 of the drive gear 72 on the shaft 68,which is continuously driven by a driver 73 on the main shaft 74 whichis operated by the motor 75 through intermeshing gears 76.

Numerous clutches for various purposes to be explained, are made use ofin the mechanism M, but in most instances, the actuating levers orhandles are omitted for the purpose of clearness. By reason of the factthat there is a special arrangement for moving the clutches of thepulling drums 4, 5, separate illustration of the handles and connectionsthereof, is made in detail in Figure 9.

A movable clutch 77, on the-main shaft 7 4,.

controls the operation of the shaft 78, on

the outermost ends of which are the bevel.

gears 17 which propel the gantree on the rails 9. This clutch 77cooperates with the clutch element of the loose gear 79 onthe shaft 74,which in turn meshes with the gear 80 on the shaft 78. A suitablereversing mechanism may be embodied in the gear connections, if foundnecessary, so that thegantree G may be propelled either backwardorforward on the rails Consider now the means for moving the car C inrespect to the gantree. As already described above, the pulling cables1, 2 are wound around the pulling drums 4, 5. These drums can be rotatedat either high or low speed bv clutching in either the sets.

have pivoted levers 91, 92 which respectively connect with operatinglevers 93. 94 through links 95, 96. These connections are arranged insuch a way that when the respective levers are moved in one direction,as indicated for example by the arrow, the clutches are moved in, and ifthe same lever is moved in the opposite direction, the clutches aremoved out.

The operation may now be easily followed, and it is thought in view ofthe above, only a brief rsum will be required in order to g I which atone end are fastened to the car C at 3 and at the other, to the pullingdrums 4. y

iThe first thing the operator does is to let the movable elevatorcarriage 22 down so that the buckets 23 begin to operate on the On thecontrary, the car C which is material in the car 0. He does this bygradually clutching in the elevator drum 31,

loose on the main shaft 74, and provided with friction clutch mechanism97. This mechanism also includes the brake drum and band mechanism 98 bymeans of which the drum 31 is held at various positions, as of. courseis necessary to support the movableelevator frame 22 in its variousadjustments.

During the initial act of lowering the elevator carriage 22 into thematerial, the elevator and conveyor belts 24, 25 are of course moving todispose of the material that is being elevated. The bottom of the car Cwill presently'bereached, and when thus reached, the-operator grasps thehandle 93, for example, throws it over toward the left,

as indicated by the arrow in Figure 9, so

that the slow clutches 87, 88 are thrown into mesh with the slow sets ofgears 83, 84. The car C is now slowly pulled beneath the gentree G, thematerial in the car being advanced to the moving elevator E, whichdisposes of the materal as already fully set out.

Should it be desired to move the gantree in respect to the car, itbecomes necessary to block up the car on its rails, remove the blocksfrom beneath the wheels 8 of the gantree, but secure the pulling cables1,2 in the same places 3 on the car. the drums 4, 5 are started inrevolution, the gantree will naturally pull itself over the carperforming the same unloading functions as described above.

When itis desired to propel the gantree to other positions, the clutch77 onthe main shaft 74 is thrown in, so that the countershaft 78 and theshafts 14 are made to operate, and thereby to propel the gantree.

lVhile the construction and arrangement Now whenof the improvedunloading mechanism as herein described and claimed, isthat of agenerally preferred form, obviously modifications and changes can bemade without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope ofthe claims.

I claim 1. In a car unloader, fixed guides, an elevator on the guides,means for extensibly adjusting the elevator along the guides, anddriving means for the elevator, including a member stationary on theguides and a cooperating member carried by the elevator maintaining apermanent driving connection.

2.1L car unloa-der, including a frame with fixed guides and a stationarydrive gear, driving means with connections to the gear, and an elevatorextensible in respect to the guides, with a permanently operativedriving connection, including a shaft slidable in said gear, with splineand groove connections.

3. A car unloader, Comprising fixed guides beneath which loaded car ismoved, operating mechanism, an elevator carried by the guides, meansactuated by the mechanism enabling extension of the elevator on theguides into the load, operatively associated means for continuouslydriving the elevator from said mechanism during extension, and meansactuated by said mechanism for gradually advancing the car toward theelevator after the bottom of the car is reached.

4. A car unloader, comprising fixed guides beneath which a loaded car ismoved,

operating mechanism, an elevator carried by the guides, means actuatedby the mechanism enabling extension of the elevator on the guides intothe load, operatively associated means for continuously driving theelevator from said mechanism during extension, means actuated by saidmechanism for gradually advancing the car toward the elevator atter thebottom of the car is reached. and means embodied in said advancing meansfor moving the car at different speeds.

5. ii car unloader comprising guides, an elevator on the guides, meansto adjust the ele ator to various degrees of extension along the guides,operating mechanism for the unloader having a driving connection to theelevator, means For driving the elevator operated by said drivingconnection, said means including a member stationary on the guides and acooperating member carried by the elevator and in driving connectionwith the stationary member, means for receiving and disposing of thedischarge of the elevator, means ,by which it isgaotuated from saidmechanism, and means also operated from said mechanismdfor advancing acar over which the unloader is disposed in respect to the elevator.

6. A car unloader comprising a gantree, an elevator carried by thegantree comprising an arrangement of guides suitably fixed thereupon,movable means including channels slidable upon the guides, top andbottom rolls journalled on the movable-means, an endless belt withbuckets running over said rolls, means carried bythe fixed guides andhaving connections to the movable means to effect various adjustmentsthereof in respect to the fixed guides, and means carried by thefixedguides arranged to'continuously 'drive the rolls even duringadjustments or the movable means.

7. A. ar unloader comprising a gantree, an elevator carried by thegantree comprising an arrangement otguides suitably fixedthereupon,movable means including channels slidable upon the guides, top andbottom rolls journalled on the movable --means, an endless belt withbuckets running over and having connections to the movable means toeffect various adjustments thereot in respect to the fixed guides, meanscarried by the fixed guides arranged to continuously drive the rollseven during adjustments of the movable means, and driving mechanismincluding means to operate sa d roll-driving means and other means tomove a car to be unloaded under the gantree during the operation of theelevator.

8. A car unloader comprising a wheeled gtill'tle, an elevator carried bythe gantree comprising an arrangement of guides suitably fixedthereupon, movable means including channels slidable upon the guides,top and bottom rolls journalled on the movable means, an endless beltwith buckets running over said rolls, means carried by the fixed guidesand having connections to the movable means to effect variousadjustments thereof in respect to the fixed guides, means carried by thefixed guides arranged to continuously drive the rolls even duringadjustment of the movable means, drivable means in connection withcertain wheels of the gantree, and common driving mechanism forfurnishing power to both said drivable means and to said roll-drivingmeans.

EDWARD OVERALL TALEAFERRO l rolls, means carried by the fixed guides

